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Swamp Gothic
Classification and Dialects Swamp Gothic is, together with the closely related Crimean Gothic, one of the few remaining remnants of the Ostrogothic language. It is spoken in a few villages in the marshy areas of Volhynia around the Pripyat and Bug rivers, in territory in contemporary Belarus and Ukraine. Historical phonology #Graphic ai, au > e, o. I am assuming that Ulfila, who assembled his own alphabet and was free to draw distinctions, spelled them all the same way because they sounded alike to him. #a/o, ā/ō > o/a #θ, ð > t, d #q > k; hw > v #Open syllable rule: Closed syllables are reduced, in the following stages: ##Nasals: *N indicating either *n or *m not immediately followed by a vowel: aN, eN, iN, oN, uN → õ, ẽ, ẽ, õ, ỹ ##In a cluster of stops or fricatives + another consonant, the obstruent is deleted unless the cluster can occur word-initially. ##Liquids: eR, oR > eRe, oRo (see below) #Consonants are palatalized by an immediately following *j: #* sj, zj > ʃ, ʒ #* nj, lj, rj > ň, ľ, ř #* tj, dj > ʧ, ʤ #* bj, pj, mj, wj > bl, pl, ml, wl #Vowel fronting: After *j or some other palatal sound, back vowels are fronted (a, ā, u, ū, ai, au → e, ē, i, ī, ei, eu). This leads to regular alternations in the morphology. #Prothesis: Before a word-initial vowel, j or w is usually inserted, depending on the vowel: je, ji wo, wu, but either ja or wa. #Palatalization. k, g, x > ts, *dz, *ʃ before or occasionally after e, i. This leads to regular alterations in the morphology. #Vowel quality shifts: All pairs of long/short vowels become differentiated as well by vowel quality: #* a, ā > o, a #* e, ē > je (with palatizations) #* i, u > ɪ, ʊ #* *ī, *ū, *ȳ > i, u, y #Breakup of liquid-final syllables: or, ol, er, el > oro, olo, ere, ele # ur, ul, ir, il > syllabic r, l, ř, ľ #Word final stops are devoiced. #g > h qiþa auk izwis þatei nibai managizo wairþiþ izwaraizos garaihteins þau þize bokarje jah Fareisaie, ni þau qimiþ in þiudangardjai himine. (Matt. 5:20) :čito ok jizviš doče njibe monohiza verečič jizvorrezas horechtšẽ da dižje bakorri ja Farišie, ni do čimit in čudõhorodše himinje. Phonology Consonants Vowels Phonotactics Writing System Grammar Nouns 'First declension, type A: non-palatal stems' The first declension contains masculine and neuter consonant stems. Historically, these are a''-stems, and ''o-stems in Indo-European. 'Invariant stem' ščens, "stone" (m) Also declined like ščens: čudons "people, folk, nation"; vuhls "bird", himls "heaven", volofs "wolf", and many more. 'Neuter nasal stems ''korõ (n) "grain". Also declined like korõ: ogorõ (n) "fruit", jezorõ (n) "iron", and many more. 'H-stem' Historically, these nouns have ''-g'' as the final vowel of the stem, which regularly changes to ''-h'' in Swamp Gothic. This becomes ''-ž'' before the palatizing genitive endings. dohs, "day" (m) 'Labial stem' Lsbial stems are words whose roots end in b, p, m, or v''. Before the dative plural these acquire a regular ''-l infix. lebs, "bread" (m) 'Palatizing stem' vorod "word" (n) 'First declension, type B: pre-palatized stems' herežis, "shepherd" (m) Other nouns declined like herežis include onis "end", vičis "wheat:, ličis "doctor, physician" bođi, "bed" (n) Other nouns declined like bođi include neči "net", veđi "vow", čẽđi "family". Verbs Syntax Lexicon Example text Category:Languages